I viewed humans as mysterious and selfish. Although I admit myself, I too was selfish. I tried my best not to be selfish, but I couldn’t help but want – even if the want was directed to someone else. I guess you’re confused.
My name is Suzuki, Chiyo. Just as my name suggests, I have a talent of playing instruments invented 1,000 years back. I have brown eyes and black hair, the typical Asian look. My black hair framed my pale-tan complexion and my brown eyes are dull in my opinion.
I never really liked celebrities. I like movies, music, and the stuff they create – along with local stuff – but I’m not one for the affection and attention they get. I’m not jealous, I was furious.
My friend, Tsuki-kun (short for Akatsuki), was poor. He didn’t mind it; he had the basic necessities to live. But he wore the same clothes once every week, he barely ate, and he walked to wherever he had to go. He lived with his parents and siblings in one tiny apartment and shared a room with his three brothers.
Nobody cared about him. They treated him worse than dirt! Nobody dared to listen to his pleas and he’d get fired from his job once every year! He couldn’t afford school and college, but he knew how to do math, read, and write – smart kid, taught himself.
Then when his apartment was burned down over 550 people showed up to his and his three brothers’ funeral. His parents were at work so they survived. The cause of the fire is that his younger brother tried to cook something, and then someone’s lit, thrown away cigarette was thrown near their place and caught it on fire. The cooking burned and was horrible, but the fire outside spread. But the point is: WHERE WERE THOSE 550 PEOPLE WHEN THAT FAMILY NEEDED HELP?!
I don’t visit his parents anymore and started to hate celebrities even more than usual because everyone paid attention to them, I even found myself trying to keep up with the latest news! Even if they weren’t that bad, I couldn’t help it. They were still human beings, so why do people prefer them over themselves and ‘common folk’? I guess you could say that I’m now anti-social. I only have few friends that try to comfort me every once and a while, we don’t hang out much.
I was wearing a black tank top and black and red plaid capris with a black belt and a red belt and chains; on my feet was a red converse and a black converse and on my hands were a pair of red and black striped arm-warmers. A black heart choker was around my neck, a present from Tsuki-kun.
I sat down at a random bench at the park Tsuki and I used to go to. I played around with the small lollipop in my mouth. I sighed, taking out the now plain-white stick and twirling it around with my fingers.
“Hey, Tsuki-kun… Where are you now?” I asked to the sky, looking up. I had a dazed look on my face as I got up and walked around town. I had no idea where I was going, but I had the place memorized. I crossed the street, unaware of the speeding car. The driver had just seen me, but it was too late to step on the brakes. But he tried anyways. I guess that made the impact easier, but I didn’t get hit.
“WATCH OUT!” a male voice shouted, snapping me out of my daze. I saw the car. My eyes widened, then relaxed. My tense muscles were then loose. I closed my eyes.
“Tsuki-kun…”
I felt someone grab my arm and pull me back. I gasped and turned around.
“What were you thinking?!” the driver and the man shouted in unison. I ignored them and stood up, walking away to where I work – which was nearby.
“What was I thinking?” I asked myself, unaware of the fact that someone was listening in and following me. “Tsuki-kun, even if he’s dead, would’ve wanted me to live my life to its ‘fullest’… Such a poor, but bright, soul,” I mused. I entered the building.
“Chiyo-chan!” a female voice greeted me in surprise. “You barely go out to eat, table for one?”
“No, table for two,” someone spoke behind me. Ame’s eyes widened, then she smiled sweetly, leading me and the stranger to a table. I recognized the voice as the one who saved me earlier.
We sat down at a booth, he spoke first. “I have tons of questions to ask you, so first: what the hell were you thinking? You didn’t move at all when you were about to become road kill.”
“I simply wasn’t thinking at all,” I muttered my answer. He still heard.
“Who’s ‘Tsuki-kun’ and how did he die?”
“Do you watch the news? The Uzumaki kids – Uzumaki, Akatsuki to be exact – house fire,” I answered. He nodded in remembrance.
“Who are you?” he asked. I glared at him slightly.
“Who are you?” I retorted.
“You answer my question first,” he stated stubbornly.
The waitress came, we ordered.
“Food’s on me,” he declared before returning to the question.
“Suzuki, Chiyo,” I answered.
“People know me as Shou.”
I stared down the man, he was around my age. A hat covered his head and sunglasses covered his eyes. I looked past that. As soon as the food arrived and I finished my meal, I knew who he was.
I immediately stood up and left him behind.
Shou, vocalist of alice nine.
One of the people who I hate the most.
Shou’s POV
I knew that she figured out who I am. But why did she have to stand up and leave without a word?
Chiyo, right? I wanted to solve that mysterious Chiyo. What made her so…quiet? So…isolated?
I puffed out my cheeks before paying the bill and leaving myself. I walked back to the studio my friends and I was given.
“SHOU~!” Hiroto chimed as he randomly popped up in front of me. How does he do that?
Nao pulled him back, “Shou-kun needs his space, Hiro-Pon,” he stated.
Hiroto grinned and sprinted off elsewhere. Nao watched him off, the yanked me into the room with a disapproving frown on his face.
“Where were you?” he demanded to know. “You could’ve called; you were 30 minutes late for band practice!”
“I saved someone’s life, dude,” I answered. “She’s…an odd one,” I added.
Nao’s frown faded away, “Still, you could’ve called.”
“Sorry, I treated her to lunch,” I apologized, “got a bit carried away with it too, almost thought it was a date.”
Nao grinned, “Who is this girl anyways?”
“Her name’s Chiyo, and she is very strange,” I said. “She works at the restaurant we went to apparently, some waitress told me that. Then she told me when she works, the time she starts and the time she ends, weird, huh?” I laughed, “It was as if they wanted us to hook up!”
“Maybe they did, you don’t know this Chiyo much – but more than me – so, you obviously don’t know how she is to the world,” Nao stated. I nodded in agreement.
Nao told the guys about it and they suggested to go to the restaurant ten minutes before Chiyo started working, I wonder what she does.
>>The Next Day>>
We were seated at another booth, this time in front of the stage. The hostess realized that I was the guy with Chiyo and so did the waitress with her.
The waitress came with us with a pad and pen, ready to order. We had a ‘family feast’ thing and had the sushi deluxe, soba, miso soup, and crab ramen.
They came back with two boxes of sushi deluxe, a huge bowl of soba, and a pot of miso soup and crab ramen.
Then, on stage, Chiyo appeared wearing a black kimono that ended 5 centimeters above her knees with a white sash and red butterflies. Her hair was clipped up in a messy bun with a pair of black hair-sticks that had red butterfly charms hanging from a small white chain.
“That’s her,” I whispered to my band. They stared at her as she sat on a mat, waiting. Two men brought out a Koto and set it in front of her. Everyone was quiet. Everything was quiet.
She plucked the strings, playing a slow song that had its fast parts. It was a song that made you wonder about random things – sad, happy, etc – and relaxed you.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYH7DHeTywo -- open in new window.]
Chiyo played random songs and she ended. Saga finished his ramen, clearing his throat, “She’s good.”
“Amazing,” Tora corrected the bassist.
The men walked out and took away the Koto, replacing it with a Biyu. She started to play songs on the other ancient instrument as well. Then she stopped and the men took the string instrument away. Then a microphone was handed to her. She looked at the man, shocked.
“I didn’t see ‘singing’ listed on the requirements,” I read her lips.
“It’s still 1,000 years old, and I heard you sing,” the man whispered back. “Just go along with it.” She sighed before singing a lullaby. Her voice was soft and gentle and each word she sang was smooth.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQjthZ34i-Q -- open in new window]
She ended. I could see the tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
“Thank you for coming to the Winter Blossoms,” she said. Chiyo stood up and left. I wonder why she chose that song and why she was about to cry. She walked to the front desk and the cashier handed her the paycheck.
I stood up and tapped her shoulder. She turned around, irritated, to face me. Her eyes slightly widened before narrowing.
“I take it you noticed me,” I mused.
“Yeah,” she muttered. “You’re Shou.”
I blinked then grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look up at me, “Do you have something against me?” I asked her.
Chiyo nodded, “I have a problem with all of you,” she hissed, pushing me away and walking out the door.
“Oh dear,” the woman sighed. “There she goes… Again.”
“Again?” I repeated, facing the woman. She had brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a pink dress with a halter strap that ended right below her knees and brown boots.
“Yup,” she replied. “Chiyo… She has a problem with trust,” the woman sighed again. “I’m Emi,” she introduced herself. “Chiyo’s childhood friend. I take it you want an explanation of how she got that way.”
“Yeah,” I answered.
“I have a lunch break in 3…2…1,” she slipped away from the counter and I led her to where my friends and I sat. I told my friends why Emi was at our table.
“I have to make sure she’s not here first,” Emi said, looking left and right. “Okay, Chiyo had a friend named Uzumaki, Akatsuki-”
“One of the three that died in a fire?” Nao questioned. Emi nodded.
“She didn’t like how people did not pay attention to him before he died but after he died, 550 people came to his funeral but 550 barely even donated when he was living,” Emi explained. “So she isolated herself from humans and almost tried killing herself and now doesn’t care if she died,” Emi continued. “She doesn’t like calling herself human, she believes that every human being is selfish and admits that she too is selfish when she’s not. She doesn’t understand that not every human is selfish all the time, they were selfish,” Emi stated. “She only trusts her childhood friends for life and despises the celebrities, AKA: you guys and others, because they are the ones that human society pays more attention to. That’s basically it,” Emi finished.
“That’s…” Hiroto trailed off. “Harsh,” he finished himself. Emi nodded.
“We try to get Chiyo to open up more,” Emi declared. “Me, Ame, Yuri, Shiki, and Kain,” she added.
“We want to help!” I exclaimed. They – as in my band – stared at me with faces saying, ‘You are the one that wants to help, we didn’t talk about it.’
“Yeah, we do,” Nao agreed first. Hiroto nodded.
“Count me in,” Saga approved.
“It should be fun,” Tora mused and then nodded, settling on ‘yes.’
Emi smiled, “Let me go get the others, it’s their lunch breaks as well,” she announced.
Ame happens to be the hostess with waist length black hair and brown-green eyes and wore a black skirt, black vest, white tank, and black converse.
Yuri is the waitress with short dark-brown hair and green eyes. She’s currently wearing the waitress uniform.
Shiki has dark blonde hair with blue eyes and was also a waiter, so he currently wore the waiter uniform.
Kain has fair brown hair with brown eyes and he’s the assistant chef – my band and I complimented him on a good job – so he wore a white chef outfit.
“So, what do we do?” Yuri asked.
My band and I exchanged glances. We turned to Saga and Tora. They smirked.
“Here’s what we do,” Tora said.
“It’s pretty simple but very specific,” Saga added.
Chiyo’s POV
I got a call from Emi saying there’s an emergency at the restaurant. She said it was a kitchen fire, there were screams and shouts of Kain and others [mainly Yuri and Shiki] in the background. Then I heard some curses and swears. I hurried and changed into a black tee, jeans, and black flats. I grabbed my phone and keys before locking up and rushing to the restaurant.
When I got there, it seemed fine…
What’s going on? It’s not like Emi to lie at all.
Emi appeared at the entrance and grabbed my wrist. “Come on!” There was no fire!
She made me sit at a booth.
Then Shou appeared. Great, what now?
The restaurant was empty. Emi owns this restaurant, so did she close it on purpose?
“We have the doors and exits heavily guarded,” Shou warned. “Just in case you try to escape.” I glared at him.
“What the FUCK are you trying to pull, rock star?” I asked him.
“I don’t really know, talented one,” Shou lied. I glared daggers at him. He smiled. What the…? Is he mentally retarded? I’m glaring at him and usually people would be afraid, but instead, he’s smiling.
“You’re weird,” I stated. He laughed. I looked around me, nobody was there. “You want something,” I assumed. “You want something from me, don’t you?” I concluded.
He smiled, “You’re really smart. Yeah, sort of.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
I froze. Why would he want to know? Maybe he’ll just shrug it off like it’s nothing. Maybe he’ll laugh at me. I don’t know what his reaction would be really.
So I told him everything, surprisingly, he listened to every detail.
“You know, you haven’t even gotten to know us and yet you hate us already. You even hate humans, so you hate yourself and your friends – kind of like that Hitler dude,” Shou observed. “Wouldn’t ‘Tsuki-kun’ want you to be happy instead of…isolated and filled with hatred?”
I snorted, but he did have a point, what does he know about me?
“So, I was thinking,” Shou stood up, “that you and I get to know each other.” He grabbed my hand and raced out the doors. There were no guards!
We went to get ice cream, I stuck with one scoop vanilla while Shou kind of went overboard with triple scoops and many flavors.
We talked, mostly him though, and listened to each other. We went shopping and to the movies. Our final stop of our trip was the park.
I sat on the stone bench in front of the pond.
“You know what,” Shou started. I looked at him. “You could’ve run away this whole time, but you didn’t.”
I rolled my eyes at the vocalist, “Go ahead and say it.”
“Say what?”
I scoffed, “You don’t know? ‘You’re wrong, Chiyo. You can’t base human beings by one person,’” I said. He smiled.
“You already admitted that you were wrong, that’s enough,” Shou stated. I half smiled.
“I guess,” I murmured. This was the park that Tsuki and I used to go to all the time, just to hang out. This was where we found a dog and took care of it, where we skateboarded, and where we last hung out before he died. Tears wanted to flow freely, so I let them stream down my face with that one lullaby I sung to his brother when we babysat him. (A/N: Song from earlier)
“What’s wrong? Did I say something?” Shou asked with concern in his voice. I shook my head.
“I…I just remembered s-stuff,” I choked. Shou grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him, I gasped. He held me in his arms while I cried.
“Cry, love,” he whispered in my ear. I blushed slightly and gently pushed him away, unlike before. “What?” he asked. I shook my head.
“Nothing,” I replied.
“So you say,” he mused. “You know, you can cry… But I’d like you to cry with my love.”
My face reddened. I turned to face the singer, “W-what?!”
Shou smirked, “Nothing.” I fumed.
“You’re…impossible!”
Shou laughed and pressed his lips against mine.
“So you think,” he mused once more. I pouted. “I’m having fun already, you?”
“Same here,” I remarked, pouting no more. I pressed my lips against his. “Later, loser!” I shouted to him as I ran home.
Tora’s POV
“At least it worked,” Hiroto tried comforting us.
“THE FIRST PART!” Saga shouted. “Just getting Chiyo to the restaurant and meeting Shou. Then he just had to take her out on a date!”
“We worked so hard!” I complained. “I mean, we actually had to think about it!”
Ame, Yuri, and Emi giggled. “At least Shou and Chiyo are together and she’s not isolated,” Nao and Emi said at the same time. Whoa, kind of scary.
“Well, maybe they’re not together,” Shiki said. “They only kissed, that doesn’t mean that they’re together.”
“Shiki has a point,” Kain stated.
“When doesn’t he?” Yuri whined. “He’s – usually – always right!”
Ame lifted her head to the sky in thought and leaned against Shiki, “Do you think we should hook them up?”
Saga and I shared smirks, “Our plan better go as followed,” I warned.
“More fun is about to be delivered,” Saga pondered.
Hiroto had a bemused face, “But… Wait…What? Shouldn’t they get together themselves? I thought that was the best thing to do.”
“Well, yes,” I said, “we’re just going to speed up the process,” I explained to my fellow guitarist. Hiroto nodded, understanding.
Nao sighed, “Here we go again,” he mumbled.
